St. Bernard's sprints past Monty Tech

FITCHBURG -- St. Bernard's showed the first-year Monty Tech/North Central Charter girls' lacrosse program just how valuable experience can be.

The confident Bernardians proved too potent for the Bulldogs, capturing a convincing 15-0 victory at the Bernardian Bowl on Wednesday.

St. Bernard's improves to 6-2, with a road game at Bromfield Friday up next before hosting Nipmuc on Saturday for Bernardians' all-spring sports day and barbecue. Monty Tech falls to 0-2.

"St. Bernard's is very established," Monty Tech head coach Diane Cormier said. "This is a brand new program here, we've got about two-thirds of a team that has never seen a lacrosse stick before this season. It is a learning and developing year for us. There were a few moments where our girls hustled very well, and got to do some double teams. It was definitely a learning game."

The Bernardians scored four goals in the first five minutes to put the game out of reach early.

"We don't usually score (that quickly)," St. Bernard's head coach Marc Berube said. "We're a good first-half team, but we tend to struggle in the second half. They work hard and hustle, though, and if we can limit our mistakes, that is our key. The girls are learning and they are a lot better than they were last year. But last year we had a good team, too."

Senior Meg Bresnahan scored all three goals in the first nine minutes, and added an assist to lead St. Bernard's in limited action.

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Molly Richard recorded a hat trick, and the Bernardians also benefited from outstanding play of freshmen Hannah Bagley (2 goals), Kelly Connors (2 goals) and Alana Keating (2 assists).

"(Bagley and Keating) filter in and play a lot in the tough games," Berube said. "All three have some skills and will play an important part in the program's future."

Maggie Birge was stellar between the pipes for the Bernardians, making a handful of saves, including two on free-position shots.

"Birge played defense on the varsity last year and goalie for the JV," Berube said. "Danielle Cormier, my goalie from last year's team, came in and worked (with her), teaching her all the little things, and because of it she's made some really big saves this year in big games."

St. Bernard's won the opening faceoff and Bresnahan took it the distance, scoring on a shot in the lower corner just 17 seconds in to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later, Richard tallied her first marker of the day when Haley Root set her up nicely.

Abbie Anderson found Sydney Esielionis in good position, and Esielionis did the rest, making it a three-goal edge just 1:57 into the game. A minute and a half later, Bresnahan sniped a shot home for her second marker, which made it a four-goal advantage.

With 17:43 remaining in the half, Richard got the feed from Bresnahan in the left corner and somehow found a way to tuck the shot inside the left post. A little more than a minute after that, Bresnahan made it a hat trick when she scored following a whistle to make it a convincing 6-0 lead. The Bernardians made a wholesale line change following the goal, but the offense just kept coming.

Bagley scored on a fast break, then a couple of minutes later Connors netted her first tally on a corner shot. With 10:40 left until the break Bagley bagged a free-position goal. Connors capped off a 10-0 first half when she scored on a bouncer, set up by Keating.

Kirstin Lortie, a senior center from North Central Charter, keyed the handful of opportunities the Bulldogs had to get on the score sheet.

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